Just a Toy
by KaterPotater
Summary: Hannah Abbott, having recently lost her mother, feels that it's her responsibility to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else. Even if it's Draco Malfoy. HADM. Completely revamped!
1. The Prefect's Bathroom

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter and related titles belong to JK Rowling and her associates. The title, Just a Toy, is a song from Barenaked Ladies on their album Born on a Pirate Ship.

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The laughter of the three Hufflepuff girls as they made their way up the stairs in the Great Hall reverberated off the cathedral ceiling. No one would have been able to tell that Hannah's mother had died just a month ago from looking at her now. Susan and Megan had made sure that every moment of her time at school was filled with laughter. Now the two brunettes flanked their blonde friend, protecting her with their quick wits and friendly smiles.

"You can't deny it any longer, Han. I saw you staring at the back of Harry Potter's head like it was pudding!" Susan called out, nudging her friend with her shoulder. Hannah's usual pink complexion deepened to almost a crimson hue.

"Look at her!" Megan chimed in, running ahead a few steps and turning to point at her friend. "She's almost as red as a Weasley!"

"Keep it up, Harry likes his girls red," Susan whispered in Hannah's ear. Hannah smiled slightly, clutching her book to her chest like armor as Megan howled with laughter.

"I know you'd love to see me snogging the Boy Who Lived, but it's not going to happen. Boys like Harry don't snog girls like me," she replied, stopping in front of the tapestry that led to the Hufflepuff cellars. Though her words were melancholy, her voice was not.

Her friends stopped by the door and looked at her quietly for a moment. "Bollocks, you're just saying that so we don't suspect anything. It'll be all over Witch Weekly in a month," Megan said. The three of them burst into laughter again.

Megan and Susan began walking behind the tapestry, but Hannah didn't follow. "I think I'm going to go for a quick bath in the Prefects' bathroom. I'll see you two later?" she said, handing her book to Megan. The two nodded and continued on their way to the Hufflepuff common room.

The blonde girl let out a sigh. She loved her friends and what they did for her, but she needed time alone. The Prefect's bathroom was her only place of refuge these days. It was away from the curious stares of the rest of the school and the whispered comments no one thought she heard. But she heard everything.

She set off at a brisk walk with her head down. She didn't like to see the pitiful stares from her fellow students but the worst were the faux compassionate words her professors gave her. Her mother was muggleborn, and they didn't have to patronize her by saying she contributed to the cause for good. It didn't bring her mother back.

She whispered the password for the Prefect's bathroom and entered through the small opening, closing the door behind her tightly. The muffled sounds of people talking echoed off the stonewalls. Hannah crinkled her eyebrows together. Most of the school was down for dinner. She cautiously moved around the hallway and peered around the corner into the main chamber of the bathroom.

The bath was full of water covered with a thin film of soap suggesting that foamy bubbles had once filled the tub and had now all disappeared. Moaning Myrtle was sitting up in the high window, looking surprisingly sympathetic. She was looking down at the stone floor were a boy was lying, fully dressed. Even though he had his hands over his eyes, Hannah could tell he was very upset.

"I can't do it, I just don't know how," he cried. His voice was soft but strained, like he hadn't slept in several days. "And he'll kill me if I don't figure it out. He'll kill my mother!"

Hannah gasped. Her hands moved up to cover her mouth but it was too late. The boy shot up into a sitting position and looked at Hannah. His look of shock and bewilderment was quickly covered with a mask of disdain, silvery blonde hair falling across his pale cheek. Myrtle disappeared down one of the toilets with a splash. Hannah wished she could be as lucky.

Hannah Abbott was caught in the death glare of Draco Malfoy.

"Abbott," he spat as if her name was poisoned pumpkin juice. He stood slowly, pulling himself up from the floor and lazily walking over to Hannah. She stood motionless like a deer caught in the headlights. Draco stood close to Hannah, looking down at her and moving to stand behind her. His hand grasped her upper arm, holding her in place. "Don't tell anyone what you heard. Got it?" He grabbed her chin with his other hand and forced her to look at him.

She nodded. The tears were welling up behind her eyelids but she refused to cry in front of him. He stared at her for a second longer, looking her over carefully, then dropping her chin. His hand on her arm lingered before he strode from the room without looking back.

Hannah leaned against the wall, breathing hard. Draco scared her. He was intimidating and, even worse, a Slytherin. However, what she heard today, she couldn't forget. The tears now came rushing down her cheeks, though if they were because of Draco, his mother, or her own mother, she couldn't say. She brushed them away with her sleeve and tried to slow her racing heart. That was too close for her.


	2. Memory of a Funeral

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter and related titles belong to JK Rowling and her associates. The title, Just a Toy, is a song from Barenaked Ladies on their album Born on a Pirate Ship.

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Several weeks passed and Hannah couldn't get what happened in the bathroom out of her mind. Instead of staring at Harry Potter in class and during meals, she found herself looking at Malfoy. Though he always looked calm and haughty, the usually ivory tint to his skin was becoming mottled with blue and bags were growing under his eyes. Maybe that was because she knew to look for it.

One day at dinner, Hannah looked up from her plate, and casually glanced at Malfoy. He was staring back at her. The sound of Susan, Megan, Ernie, and Justin joking faded into the background as their eyes locked from across the room. His eyes were steel grey, like a gathering storm at dusk. However, in those eyes, she could see it. The pain everyone goes through when they're afraid, when they think their way of life is threatened. It was exactly how she felt when she found out her mother had been murdered. She couldn't stand to see her own pain reflected in such a cruel face and she looked away. Her attention shifted back to her friends.

She took no joy in the airy conversation her fellow Hufflepuffs were having. Something about a new catalogue to order hard to find Chocolate Frog cards. Usually Hannah would have happily given her opinion, but today she couldn't. Her mind was on a still-fresh grave in a village far from Hogwarts.

"Excuse me," she said in a small voice, getting up from the table with her plate still half filled with food. She hurried across the Great Hall and threw her weight into pushing open the great wooden doors. Her black shoes tapped across the floor as she ran up the stairs and to the Prefect's bathroom.

She collapsed on the floor inside, tears streaming down her face. The horrible realization that her mother was gone forever had crashed down on her for the first time since the funeral. Her whole body convulsed with heavy sobs as she remembered it all over again.

Fall seemed like a fitting time for a funeral. The trees in the cemetery were losing their leaves in red, gold, and brown clumps. They gathered on the dying grass that crunched under Hannah's feet as she walked behind the coffin, carried by her father, two grandfathers, and a few other family friends Hannah had hardly seen before.

Her mother had lived most of her life as a muggle and demanded a muggle funeral. Her father, though confused by the process, hired the only Catholic priest in three villages. Now thoughts on how foreign everything was became the furthest thing from anyone's mind.

Everyone who attended the funeral said it was better that Hannah was burying her mother instead of the other way around. It seemed like a small conciliation prize to her. Her mother was still dead.

She'd cried all her tears already and she stared down into the dark hole that was to be her mothers' final resting place. It was fitting to put her back in the earth she loved so much beneath a tree. Hannah's mother had taught her how to climb trees when she was very little.

The door to the Prefect's bathroom opened and Hannah was brought back to the stone castle. She turned her head slowly, wiping her tears on her robe. And he was there again, leaning casually against the wall. His eyes looked down at her with the softness she had seen earlier, but his face was still hard.

"Abbott," he said. His voice didn't have the edge it did when he usually said her name. He crossed his arms over his chest with the casual superiority he demonstrated over all the Hufflepuffs. "I'm sorry."

She stared at him. She didn't believe it at first. Draco never apologized, especially to a Hufflepuff. Pushing herself up a little to lean against the wall, she said, "Why are you sorry?"

"Because now I know what it's like to lose your family," he whispered, looking down at his fingernails. He shook his hair away from his face and looked down at Hannah again. A light in his eyes told her he wasn't lying. He actually was sorry.

He pushed off from the wall and walked over to her. He extended his hand out to her. She looked at it. He sighed with annoyance and rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to bite you," he growled. Cautiously, she placed her hand in his and he hoisted her up. "Go back to your common room," he said, nodding towards the bathroom door.

Hannah followed his instructions, her head bowed in silent obedience. As she walked back to the cellars, she thought about what he said. His father was gone and his mother was in danger, she knew that much. It wasn't the same, but it was close enough. Harry had lost his parents, but he couldn't even remember it. It wasn't the same as having a family member ripped from the life of a child who lived with them for as long as they could remember.


	3. Blind Faith

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter and related titles belong to JK Rowling and her associates. The title, Just a Toy, is a song from Barenaked Ladies on their album Born on a Pirate Ship.

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She found the crane on her pillow the next Saturday after breakfast. It was a delicate origami crane made up of the yellowing parchment everyone used to write on. Hannah snatched the little animal off her bed before Susan and Megan could see it. She cradled it in her cupped hand, while drawing the curtains around her bed.

She carefully unfolded the crane as Susan and Megan put on more layers for the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Now the thought of watching the match was the last thing on Hannah's mind. She willed her fingers to stop trembling as she opened the note.

Inside was one simple sentence:

_Meet me in the Prefect's Bathroom during the Quidditch match._

She crinkled up the paper and pushed it under her pillow, a blush creeping across her cheeks. She forced her face down into her pillow, closing her eyes tightly and trying not to hyperventilate. Two freak meetings with Draco Malfoy had been horrible enough but now he purposely wanted to see her? Hannah decided that he must be doing this to toy with her, like some sick cat and mouse game.

"Hannah?" Susan's soft voice barely carried through the heavy drapes around Hannah's bed. "Are you ready?"

Hannah bolted upright, her hands nervously straightening out her hair. "Uh, I don't think I'm going," she said, searching her mind for a good excuse not to join her friends at the Quidditch match. "I don't feel well," she finished lamely.

A moment of silence followed. Hannah imagined Susan and Megan gesticulating an argument on whether or not they should leave her there alone. "Okay, we'll see you at dinner then," Susan finally replied, though Hannah felt the argument hadn't ended yet and Susan was just being more vocal. She listened as the two girls walked out of the room, closing the round wooden door behind them.

She waited ten minutes more before poking her head out from the curtains, and glancing around to make sure Eloise and Sally-Ann had also left. Seeing she was alone, Hannah dove back for the parchment she'd hidden under her pillow. She scanned the words once again, hoping they had rearranged themselves into something that didn't put her in this position, but the content stayed steadfast. If it weren't for what Hannah had overheard earlier that month, she wouldn't have considered actually going. But now her curiosity would not let her ignore the call.

As she walked down the deserted halls to the Prefect's bathroom, the nursery rhyme about curiosity killing the cat flashed into her mind. She immediately brushed it off. If this was a game of cat and mouse, Hannah was certainly not the cat. There were no such ill omens about curiosity and mice.

She whispered the password and walked into the Prefect's bathroom. The depressed bathtub was empty and Draco sat on the edge with one of his legs swinging over into the tub while the other was bent and supporting his arm. He twirled his wand casually between his fingers. He looked up at Hannah as she entered and the feeling she had in the Great Hall washed over her again. The feeling that he knew exactly what she had gone through.

Quickly, he turned his attention back to his wand. Hannah stood in the doorway, very confused. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do now that she was here. Her hands absently fiddled with her robe, smoothing out the already ironed black clothe.

"Sit down," Draco said. It was soft and not a question, but a command. She moved into the room and sat on the opposite edge of the tub, her hands under her thighs. She folded into herself, trying to make herself smaller and, hopefully, invisible.

The second hand on Hannah's watch ticked away slowly, each second dragging out longer than the next. And still they sat in silence, both mesmerized by the lazy twirling of Draco's wand between his thin fingers.

"Malfoy, why did—" Hannah started, but Draco interrupted her before she could even finish the thought.

"Abbott, what's it like to lose your mother?" he asked. The words were steady and unapologetic. He turned his steel colored gaze from his wand and finally looked at Hannah. The force of his steady stare knocked the wind out of Hannah's chest. She sat in silence for a while, caught in his strong and unassuming look, trying to catch her breath.

The words formed thick and heavy on her tongue like bullets forced down her throat. "Well," she started, her voice shaky and uneven, showing none of the composure Draco had. No words could describe how it felt to lose the woman that gave life to you, who nurtured you, and protected you through everything. She felt the familiar burning at the back of her throat that foreshadowed that tears were on their way, again. She pushed her fist into her eye, trying to keep the tears from falling in front of Draco.

She cleared her throat and started again. "It's like having your heart cut in two, like watching the world crumble, like seeing the universe fail and not being able to do a thing about it. It's the worst thing I've ever felt in my entire life." It was quiet and raspy, but it was the best Hannah could do.

Sometime while Hannah was talking, Draco looked at her. When she felt she had won against the flood of tears, she looked at him and met his eyes. He didn't say anything: he didn't have to. In his cold gray eyes was the sincere apology Hannah had longed for in the days after her mother had died. He did know and he was sorry. It was shocking for Hannah to see such kindness in a face that was always marred with cruelty and wore a mask of disdain.

He nodded curtly, and then looked back at his twirling wand. "That's what I thought," he said in a low voice. Another pause followed. They both followed the slow end over end turning of his wand. Draco took a deep breath, as if to steady him, and then said, "If I don't do what he says, he'll kill my mother too." Their eyes met again across the empty bathtub. Hannah didn't need to ask who he was. Whenever the subject of death came up, everyone knew who was behind it in these dark days.

"Will you help me?" he croaked, taking Hannah by surprise. She recognized the sound of trying to hold back the tears and it startled her to hear it from Draco. She looked at him carefully, weighing exactly what he had just said in her head. "For my mother?" he added and all of Hannah's careful calculations were unnecessary.

"Of course I'll help you," she said, giving him a reassuring half smile.


	4. She Believed

**Revamped**

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter and related titles belong to JK Rowling and her associates. The title, Just a Toy, is a song from Barenaked Ladies on their album Born on a Pirate Ship.

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Appearing on her pillow the next day after breakfast was another crane, which read:

_Meet me at the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy on the seventh floor when you get this._

_DM_

Hannah immediately picked up her knapsack and cleverly stuffed the now wrinkled crane inside as she hoisted it onto her shoulder. "Well, I'm off to the library!" she said to the girls in the dormitory in a cheery voice. She flashed a good girl smile and headed off for the seventh floor.

She knew very well what was across from that particular tapestry. Harry had used the Room of Requirement to hold the secret Dumbledore's Army meetings and Hannah had hidden behind that tapestry several times. Hannah had joined with the rest of her Hufflepuff friends. It was in those many meetings that Hannah had developed a crush on Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. She didn't flaunt her crush like most of the other girls did, but it was still there, subtle and quiet like all of Hannah's crushes.

As she neared the tapestry, Draco came into view. He was standing in front of it, looking oddly worried and nervous. The sound of her shoes on the floor alerted him to her presence and he turned his cold gray eyes to look at her. She steeled herself and continued to walk towards him, her head held high.

He reached out and grabbed her elbow. Without saying a word, he walked back and forth three times with Hannah in tow. The door to the Room of Requirement appeared and Draco led her inside, still clutching her by the elbow.

The room looked very different now than it did during the DA meetings. Junk was piled up against the wall, higher than Hannah was tall. Draco released her elbow and continued to walk down a twisted maze of corridors littered with broken broomsticks, smashed statues, and rusted suits of armor. She followed him closely, slightly bewildered by the vast amount of stuff. She almost grabbed his elbow for protection, but thought better of it.

He led her to a black wardrobe that was split with pieces of wood sticking out at odd angles. "It's a Vanishing Cabinet," Draco said with bitter bluntness. "I've been trying to get it working again. It's been malfunctioning since Peeves dropped it. I know where its pair is and it would be easy to get someone into the castle for protection. I just need to fix it." He stared at the cabinet like he was trying to analyze an especially hard problem in arithmancy.

Hannah watched Draco carefully. "You're going to bring your mum to Hogwarts?" she asked. Her gaze shifted from Draco to the wardrobe.

"It makes sense, right? I mean, this is the safest place in the wizarding world besides Gringotts and with so many great witches and wizards…" he trailed off. His voice had betrayed a hint of anxiety and even fear.

She ripped her eyes off the wardrobe and looked at Draco. He looked just as his voice had sounded. Hannah could hardly imagine that this was the same Draco Malfoy that had pulled her pigtails in first year, who called Hermione Granger a mudblood, and who's father was now in Azkaban for being a Death Eater. She never noticed just how skinny he was, or how pale and fragile. She'd never thought of him as a boy with a mother before, he'd always just been a Malfoy and nothing else.

It was her mother that had taught Hannah that everyone could change. Everyone was human; everyone wanted to do the right thing. Hannah didn't think that was possible after her mother died but looking at Draco, staring at a broken Vanishing Cabinet that held all his hopes and dreams, she believed again.

"I'm not very good at Transfiguration," she said meekly, looking at the ground in shame. It was an understatement to say the least. She was dreadful at Transfiguration and the whole school knew it.

He turned his body towards her. Even though he was skinny, he still towered over Hannah. Usually this overwhelming height difference intimidated Hannah but today it made her feel safe. "But you're tops at Charms, which is what I really need help in," he protested. His hand nervously rubbed the back of her neck.

The usual blush crept across Hannah's plump cheeks. Charms was her best subject, but she wasn't nearly as good as Hermione or even Ernie or Susan. But she didn't protest again. She sighed, "Okay, what do you need help with?"

Draco snapped up to look at her. He looked surprised that Hannah had agreed to help. But the surprise faded away and was replaced with a smile. He then started talking about the exact problem he was having, gesturing enthusiastically at specific points on the cabinet. Hannah followed as well as she could, asking questions and suggesting plausible solutions.

He was actually listening to her. Usually Draco was busy talking to his Slytherin friends or laughing at the Gryffindors. Not that Hannah usually talked in class. If she had a question, she'd ask Ernie, Justin, or Susan and they would ask if they didn't know. But working this out with Draco made her feel like a capable young witch.

They spent two hours tinkering with the cabinet. They were disrupted only once. A loud clang echoed through the twisted halls. Hannah jumped, she was so engrossed in the work the metallic sound startled her. "Shh, it's okay," Draco whispered, placing his hand on her shoulder. "It's just a tower of junk falling down."

And Hannah believed him, feeling calm and relaxed.


	5. After Christmas

**Revamped**

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter and related titles belong to JK Rowling and her associates. The title, Just a Toy, is a song from Barenaked Ladies on their album Born on a Pirate Ship.

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Christmas break was a torment for Hannah. The time away from the wardrobe seemed to press on her like the weight of water. She became consumed with thoughts of Draco's mother, who she had adopted as her own in her mind. She imagined that Draco inherited his sharp face from his father while his mother looked eerily like Hannah herself.

She imagined the happy moment when Draco would lead his mother through the doors of the shattered yet fully functional Vanishing Cabinet. Hannah was always waiting on the other end and when Narcissa saw her, Hannah was scooped up in the loving embrace of a mother once again, kisses planted on her golden hair, even though her mother was a "mudblood."

Thoughts like these distracted her from the dull and forced routine of her own house. Her father's desire for her to have a "normal" life dominated every day. Christmas was both the same and completely different without her mother. All three stockings hung on the mantle and Hannah's presents were from both her parents.

But at night, she could hear her father crying for the loss of his love and Hannah slept poorly.

She spent the nights looking out her bedroom window. Christmas was especially beautiful in the Lake District where the Abbott's lived well out of town. Miles of virgin snow lay before her like a field of diamonds. Under the moonlight, the snow looked pale and sad, with odd shadows making pools of mysterious depth. It reminded her of Draco, with his fair hair and skin but deep bruises under his eyes and the hollow contours of his cheeks where the skin sagged between the bones.

Returning to Hogwarts was the happiest day of her break. Susan, Megan, Ernie, and Justin were waiting for her on Platform 9 and 3/4 while Zacharias saved them a cabin near the front of the train. Even though she hadn't been happier all break, she still looked for silver hair and a pale, slender body. She never saw him.

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When the next crane showed up on her pillow, Hannah didn't flinch. They all said the same thing. She put the intact crane in her bedside drawer, threw a few books in her knapsack and ran merrily down the dormitory steps.

"Off to the library!" she said with a wave to her friends, who were gathered around the fire.

"Hannah, wait!" Ernie called before she could duck out of the door. She turned around and saw her five friends standing awkwardly before her, exchanging worried looks. Hannah stared at them, looking over their worried faces.

"You've been going to the library a lot lately," Ernie continued, the obvious elected speaker of the group. Hannah wondered how long they had been planning this intervention.

"Every Sunday," Megan grumbled in a tone indicating that she didn't take kindly to Hannah's disappearances.

"Anyway," Ernie said, shooting a piercing look in Megan's direction. "You won't let any of us come with you and, well…"

Susan took up the disregarded sentence. "We're worried about you, Hannah. You keep running off to the library and, all things considered, it scares us."

When she didn't answer, Ernie continued. "We've talked to Madam Pomfrey and she said you're grieving and at increased risk of…well…hurting yourself. She gave us some pamphlets." He took the flowery pamphlets from his robes and held them out to her.

Hannah stared at them, shocked but also relieved. She was glad they hadn't figured out her secret, but upset that her mother's death was so trivialized by the people she loved. "How dare you!" she whispered in a tone barely audible but clearly dangerous. Her face flushed an abnormal crimson red with anger.

Without another word, without taking the pamphlets, she ran from the common room. She didn't even realize where she was going until she saw the blurred vision of Draco standing in front of the tapestry. He was waiting for her, but when he saw her red face and her body shaking with sobs, he ran towards her. She didn't even notice when he looked around to make sure no one was watching. He took her roughly by the elbow, opened the Room of Requirement as quickly as he could, and led her inside where she collapsed just on the other side of the door.

She sobbed uncontrollably, like the second time they had meet in the Prefect's Bathroom. He sat on his knees next to her, a tender yet cautious hand on her shoulder. "It's okay," he whispered, moving his hand in light, comforting circles around her shoulder, barely touching her shirt.

"They don't know anything," she whispered when the sobbing died down.

Draco sighed with a heaviness that showed he knew exactly what she was talking about. "Yeah, I know," he said and his hand grew heavy on her shoulder. She knew he had put the full weight of not only his hand but also his isolation from his house and despair from worrying about his mother.

He did know and Hannah was grateful for it.


	6. Cut

**Revamped**

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter and related titles belong to JK Rowling and her associates. The title, Just a Toy, is a song from Barenaked Ladies on their album Born on a Pirate Ship.

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The snow melted as the months past but Draco only got thinner with each passing day. Hannah watched him from across the Great Hall and in classes. She had more time to watch Draco now that she was separating herself from the rest of the Hufflepuffs. No one could really blame her; they all assumed the pressure of losing her mother had gotten too hard for the little, anxious Hufflepuff.

Harry even tried to talk to her about her mother, trying to console her in his own awkward way. But Hannah brushed him off, blushing because he was looking at her with pity.

Sundays with Draco were the highlight of Hannah's week. She never thought she'd be happy to be alone with Malfoy but war changed a lot of things.

Gradually, Draco stopped calling her every Sunday and started just every other Sunday. The days she wasn't with Draco, she actually did go to the library. She'd hide in the darkest stack of books and read by herself, usually classic Muggle books her mother loved. Sometimes she'd write or just think about Malfoy and his family.

She found herself fantasizing about being accepted by his parents, even though her mother was Muggle born. But her father was pureblood and now her mother was dead. Maybe it would be all right if she gave up the Muggle part. It wouldn't mean she'd have to be like Draco was before, hating every Muggle born in the school.

Of course this was just the daydream of a childish schoolgirl. Hannah was smarter than that. She always dismissed them immediately after having them. Her "pureblood" was tainted with the scent of mudblood, as far as the Malfoys were concerned, and she would never be good enough for them. Yet she still drifted to sleep with the vision of pale hair and steel gray eyes floating in her mind.

The days slid gently into May and Draco would still call for her by leaving cranes on her pillow, though she never figured out how they got there. His calls came infrequently now, not always on Sundays like before, but whenever they both had a free moment.

One morning, Hannah came into the Great Hall and found the place in chaos. Pansy and her band of Slytherin girls were in tears while Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked shocked and almost sickened. Something had happened.

"Oy, Hannah, did you hear?" Ernie called out, waving her over to the Hufflepuff table. All sins were forgotten when gossip was juicy.

"What's going on?" Hannah asked in a shaky voice, sitting down between Megan and Susan. She was afraid someone else had been killed, though she couldn't think what would upset both the Gryffindors and Slytherins.

Susan leaned in to Hannah, trying to import on her how scandalous the gossip really was. "Harry Potter almost killed Draco Malfoy yesterday."

Hannah's face drained of its rosy complexion. "He what?" she whispered.

"Killed Malfoy!" Zacharias exclaimed as if Hannah had been referring to Harry. "In one of the boy's bathrooms. Slashed him up real well, from what I heard. Too bad Snape had to come in and heal the wanker before he had the decency to bleed to death." The conversation traveled on like that for the rest of the meal while Hannah sat in stony silence. Her friends thought she was in shock because of Harry's brutality, not because of what happened to Malfoy.

The day passed in a blur for Hannah, her only thoughts on Draco. She couldn't perform even the simplest spell in Charms and nearly started crying in Defense Against the Dark Arts when Snape stood before them all. She thought she could see Draco's blood all over the professor's hands.

Susan and Megan once again took up the job of sentinels and never left Hannah's side. In soft voices, they tried to reassure her: that it had been an accident, Harry didn't mean it, that he would never intentionally kill anyone other than You-Know-Who. After what he did for Cedric, Harry had to be good. They fed her soft foods and sweet words at dinner.

That night, Hannah lay in bed, waiting for her neighbors to go to sleep before slipping out of the sheets and into the drafty halls of Hogwarts. It was surprising how many questions she could avoid with only her Prefect's badge as protection. She made her way to the Infirmary without incident, even when Peeves floated overhead in a dreamy half-conscious state.

She pushed open the door that felt as heavy as lead and peered into the moonlit room. Draco lay on a bed half way down the room, peacefully asleep. Even from a distance, Hannah could see the pink marks of freshly healed wounds all over his visible body. She walked over to him, kneeled next to him on the hard floor, and grabbed his hand, pressing it to her mouth.

He groaned and Hannah looked at his face. His head rolled towards the girl, his steel eyes flicked open, and he mouthed, "Abbott" before falling asleep again. In that one word, Hannah hoped she might be forgiven for being born from a Muggleborn after all.

From then on, Hannah started calling him Draco instead of Malfoy.


	7. Ever Mine

**Revamped**

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter and related titles belong to JK Rowling and her associates. The title, Just a Toy, is a song from Barenaked Ladies on their album Born on a Pirate Ship.

------

No one could mistake Hannah's looks at Harry for anything but contempt. The longing stares in the Great Hall or in classes had turned into glares. None of her Hufflepuff friends could understand the sudden change in attitude. Hannah was not easily tricked, she never believed for a second that Harry couldn't be anything but good and sweet. He must have used that spell on accident; he'd never intentionally hurt another student, even Malfoy. But the glare that marred Hannah's pretty face was unmistakable.

Inside, she was a rage of conflict. Harry would never intentionally hurt someone; this was a belief that Hannah held deeply since their second year. Especially not like that. Had it been anyone else than Draco, she would have let it go. But it had been her Draco, the boy she'd been secretly helping for almost six months. The boy she had grown to love, though she dared not admit it to herself.

He was a Malfoy and Malfoy's never loved.

A month went by and he didn't call for her, though he appeared in class again soon after his accident. Hannah was hell bent on calling it an accident, no matter what anyone else said. The rest of the Hufflepuffs had decided that Draco had deserved it and Zacharias thought it showed a major flaw in Harry's psychological character, something he had suspected from the beginning. Hannah stayed out of the political conversations. Her focus was on the back of Draco's head.

Hannah almost squealed when the familiar parchment crane reappeared on her pillow. She ran and leaped onto her bed, crumbling the little crane against her chest. She tumbled over the edge and landed on Susan's bed, making Eloise come out from behind her curtains and ask, "You okay?"

Hannah brushed the girl off with a wave of her hand before scampering off to her favorite spot in all of Hogwarts. She didn't even care when she brushed past Harry and Ginny together on the stairs or a little first year on the sixth floor.

Draco was waiting for her with a smile on his face. "It's almost done," he said happily, grabbing her elbow and leading her in front of the hall three times before the door appeared. He guided her in by the small of her back. She delighted in the touch and willed her cheeks to stay neutral.

She waited for him to lead her through the maze even though she knew where she was going by now. It was tradition to follow behind Draco. This was the first time she'd been close to him since the accident. The thin white lines covered every inch of his skin. She grimaced thinking about that night in the Infirmary.

They came upon the vanishing cabinet. It didn't look any different than before. It was still cracked and splintered but it seemed to be almost glowing with power. Hannah ran her hands over the gilded doors. She definitely could feel something just below the surface, some magic power bubbling up from under the paint.

"It's so strong," she whispered to the cabinet.

Draco came up behind her and touched the door just above Hannah's hand. She was acutely aware of how close his thin body was to hers. She felt protected in the umbrella his arm made, the top of her head just reaching his chin. If she leaned back, there would be a perfect space for her to spend the rest of eternity. "It just needs one more charm and then it'll be done. But I can't figure it out," he said, pulling away from Hannah and bending down to extract a book from the ground.

He flipped through the pages and handed the book to Hannah, pointing to a complicated spell near the end of the book. She puzzled over it for some time, occasionally talking to Draco or waving her wand around ominously. After an hour of deliberating and debating, Hannah and Draco finally came up with an answer. Together they preformed the difficult charm that caused smoke to emit from their wands.

They lowered their wand hands together, staring at the cabinet. It looked like it was glowing a little more than before but nothing else was different. "Did it work?" she whispered after several moments of silence.

He brushed past her and opened the door. He poked his head inside the dark cavern, then disappeared comletely. Hannah waited on the other side for several long minutes, hoping desperately that she hadn't screwed things up again and he was going to be stuck in between the two cabinets forever and it would be all her fault.

She was just about to follow after him when his thin, white figure jumped from the darkness with a huge smile on his face, screaming in victory. "I did it!" he yelled, picking up Hannah and twirling her around by the waist. She howled in delight, wrapping her arms around his neck.

After a few turns, he slowed down, still holding her tightly by the waist, pressed up against him. His steel gray eyes bored into her blue eyes with a tenderness Hannah didn't know could come from steel. "We did it," he said in a softer voice. In that moment, something passed between them and Hannah knew what she had felt in the Infirmary was really there.

Without another word and only with slight hesitation, he kissed her. She felt like all the world had stopped for them, like the setting sun had been stopped in it's tracks so they could spend the rest of their lives in the Room of Requirement, in this kiss. The war was gone, the scars on his skin were gone, and Hannah's family was gone. It was just them, together, forever.

He pulled away and let her go slightly but refused to let her go completely. "Abbott, I think I love you," he gasped.

Hannah burst out laughing, falling against his chest. He looked at her with a puzzled expression, but she waved him off. Now was not the time to remind him that she grew up with a Muggle mother.

He let go of her and brought his fingers to his lips, thinking. He started to pace around the room. "What's the matter? You don't have to worry, I love you too. And my dad's pureblood, not like that will matter when we get your mum here. She'll be so happy! Dumbledore will set it all straight and everything will be all right," Hannah ranted, following Draco around like a puppy. But none of this seemed to make him feel any better. "What's wrong?" she asked, truly worried about him now.

He turned and looked at her but this time it was a completely different look. It wasn't loving and happy, it was the intense look of the old Draco. He grabbed her by the upper arms. "I need to tell you something."


	8. And I'd Run

**Revamped**

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter and related titles belong to JK Rowling and her associates. The title, Just a Toy, is a song from Barenaked Ladies on their album Born on a Pirate Ship.

**AN:** Which ending would you like to see made into a sequel? Vote through reviews and see your favorite made into a whole new story!

------

Hannah slumped against the wall, holding in her chest as if her heart may leap out onto the floor. Everything he had told her had been a lie. He never wanted to bring his mother here, he wanted to bring the Death Eaters so he could kill—_kill_—Dumbledore.

"You used me," she spat, looking at her feet in disgust. She couldn't look at the man that, even now, she still loved. "You lied to me!" The words tasted like bile on Hannah's tongue.

"No, I didn't lie. That much," he added lamely, trying to grab at her hands. She pulled them away. "Okay, fine, I did lie. But he will kill my mum or me if I don't kill Dumbledore. What would you do if it was your mum, Abbott?"

Hannah looked up at Draco, his steel eyes hard with resolve. "Tell Dumbledore," she growled. Draco groaned in exasperation, turning and walking in an impatient circle. "He could do something about it. He could save you." She pushed off against the wall and took a few tentative steps towards him.

"No one can save me!" he screamed, turning around to face the cowering girl. His eyes flashed with anger. "It's too late, there's no other way now." His voice softened. Hannah felt the familiar lump in her throat and the heat spread in her face. Draco gathered her into his arms, pulling her into the place where his neck and shoulder met.

She didn't push away, she hadn't the strength left. She had thought her world could never crash down around her ever again, but she was clearly wrong. He buried his nose in her hair, kissing the top of her head as she dampened the arm of his robe. "Come with me," he whispered. Hannah wouldn't have heard him if he hadn't been so close to her.

Her sobs froze mid tremor. She pulled away slowly and looked into his sharp, angular face. "I can't," she croaked. Her voice returned slowly and again she tried to speak. "I can't go with you. My mum—she was—she was a…."

"Muggle born, yes, I know, but my family doesn't. You can be a different Hannah Abbott, from a different family. A respectable one. And we can run away tonight and be married and everything will be all right!" He was practically screaming at her with urgency, gripping her tightly by the shoulders.

She looked at him critically, this boy who had been a man. His eyes had a psychotic glow that Hannah had never seen before. They were as hard frozen metal. It scared her. She looked down at his white knuckles gripping into her arms. "You're hurting me, Draco," she whispered. His grip softened and eventually he released her.

"I'm sorry," he croaked. He sounded close to tears and Hannah couldn't stand to see the hurt all over his face. She ran her hand over his smooth and sculpted jaw before leaning in and planting a loving kiss on his lips.

----------------

That night, Hannah sat in the common room staring out the window. She couldn't rip her eyes away from the dark grounds. She looked for something, anything, movement that told her Dumbledore was coming back. She needed him to come back.

She wished she knew what to do. She wished she was stronger or braver or a Gryffindor, because then she could go and warn them. She would slip from the castle and find someone in the village or even get McGonagall. But she couldn't, she was paralyzed by fear. She was afraid of what Draco would do to her if he found out she had told, what would happen if they won and she needed him to save her.

A flash of green light ripped Hannah out of her tortured thoughts. She leaned closer to the window and saw the Dark Mark burned into the clear night sky. Without thinking, she reached up and pulled the curtains closed before anyone else could see it. As if nothing had happened, she walked up to her room, crawled into bed, and waited for the world to change.

She couldn't sleep. Within an hour she could hear screaming and fighting in the halls. "Hannah, come quick, something's happening!" Susan yelled, bursting into the dorm room and shaking Hannah violently. Every muscle in her body screamed not to be forced to move, but she got up anyway, following Susan blindly down to the common room where the whole of Hufflepuff house was crowded around looking anxious.

Ernie scooped Hannah into his arms the minute he saw her and she lamely returned the hug. She dreaded the thought that Ernie would be all she had now. She could never love Ernie like she loved Draco, with the full force of every fiber in her being. Ernie was second best, a man that would love her and never hurt her.

He took her silence as shock and held her tight, rocking back and forth slightly, rubbing her hair, whispering, "It's all right, I won't let them hurt you again." Draco had never said that to her. Draco had never promised her anything in the whole time she had known him and he had lived up to that. His goodness came from Hannah's mind, not something Draco had done or said. It was all the delusions of a girl that wanted to be loved.

And all of the sudden, she was crying and clutching onto Ernie with all her might, as if holding on to him physically would make his promise come true, as if she could pass her pain through herself for him to bear. She delighted in the tight circle his arms made around her shoulders and loved that her friends joined in and held her tight. It didn't matter they didn't know why she was crying. They were there and that was what was important.

-----------

Ernie held Hannah's hand at Dumbledore's funeral. She had since run out of tears to shed on the death of the Headmaster. Savagely, she chuckled at how useful her black clothes had become, how she'd started the year with a funeral and ended it the exact same way. Ernie thought she had sobbed and gripped her hand tighter.

Draco had gone with Snape that night. Everyone was talking about how horrible Draco really was. Hannah stayed out of those conversations as much as she could. She looked around at the tear stained faces and knew she was the only one that could have stopped it. But she hadn't. She was a coward. Her cowardice had led to something more horrible than just a personal lose. She had killed their savior and now all their dreams rested on the shoulders of a boy younger than she was.

She looked over at Harry then, sitting next to Ginny Weasley, staring off into space like he couldn't see what was going on. He seemed so small and weak. Her eyes drifted over to Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Hannah knew they would follow Harry everywhere, but were they enough?

She was going to get her Draco back. Draco wasn't bad. Draco had kissed her, a mudblood. He must know, somewhere in his mind, that there was no real difference between the two of them. It was the only explanation. Her head turned to look at Ernie beside her. So strong and resolute, he always had an answer. He didn't need her, but Draco did.

It was at that moment that Hannah Abbott, puppet of the Dark Lord, toy and lover of Draco Malfoy, decided she was going to follow Harry Potter and do whatever she could to help him, but not for her mother. Her mother was already lost. She would fight for Draco, because there was still something that she could save there. And all he really needed was to be rescued.


	9. Couldn't Get Away

**Revamped**

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter and related titles belong to JK Rowling and her associates. The title, Just a Toy, is a song from Barenaked Ladies on their album Born on a Pirate Ship.

**AN:** Which ending would you like to see made into a sequel? Vote through reviews and see your favorite made into a whole new story!

------

Hannah slumped against the wall, holding in her chest as if her heart may leap out onto the floor. Everything he had told her had been a lie. He never wanted to bring his mother here, he wanted to bring the Death Eaters so he could kill—_kill_—Dumbledore.

"You used me," she spat, looking at her feet in disgust. She couldn't look at the man that, even now, she still loved. "You lied to me!" The words tasted like bile on Hannah's tongue.

"No, I didn't lie. That much," he added lamely, trying to grab at her hands. She pulled them away. "Okay, fine, I did lie. But he will kill my mum or me if I don't kill Dumbledore. What would you do if it was your mum, Abbott?"

Hannah looked up at Draco, his steel eyes hard with resolve. "Tell Dumbledore," she growled. Draco groaned in exasperation, turning and walking in an impatient circle. "He could do something about it. He could save you." She pushed off against the wall and took a few tentative steps towards him.

"No one can save me!" he screamed, turning around to face the cowering girl. His eyes flashed with anger. "It's too late, there's no other way now." His voice softened. Hannah felt the familiar lump in her throat and the heat spread in her face. Draco gathered her into his arms, pulling her into the place where his neck and shoulder met.

She didn't push away, she hadn't the strength left. She had thought her world could never crash down around her ever again, but she was clearly wrong. He buried his nose in her hair, kissing the top of her head as she dampened the arm of his robe. "Come with me," he whispered. Hannah wouldn't have heard him if he hadn't been so close to her.

Her sobs froze mid tremor. She pulled away slowly and looked into his sharp, angular face. "I can't," she croaked. Her voice returned slowly and again she tried to speak. "I can't go with you. My mum—she was—she was a…."

"Muggle born, yes, I know, but my family doesn't. You can be a different Hannah Abbott, from a different family. A respectable one. And we can run away tonight and be married and everything will be all right!" He was practically screaming at her with urgency, gripping her tightly by the shoulders.

She looked at him critically, this boy who had been a man. His eyes had a psychotic glow that Hannah had never seen before. They were as hard frozen metal. It scared her. She looked down at his white knuckles gripping into her arms. "You're hurting me, Draco," she whispered. His grip softened and eventually he released her.

"I'm sorry," he croaked. He sounded close to tears and Hannah couldn't stand to see the hurt all over his face. She ran her hand over his smooth and sculpted jaw before leaning in and planting a loving kiss on his lips.

---------------

That night, Hannah wrapped her cloak around her shoulders and pulled up the dark hood. She examined herself in the mirror. The usual badger necklace she wore was tucked inside her suitcase. In its place, a solitaire diamond necklace sat on her collarbone. Draco had given it to her, to make her look more respectable. Her blonde hair was meticulously arranged and her face made over.

And as she inspected herself in the mirror, she thought she passed off as a Slytherin rather well.

She didn't say goodbye to the room that had been her home for six years. She didn't nod as she passed her former friends in the common room, though they called after her. She didn't even try to hide as she walked out of the castle and made a beeline for the Forbidden Forest. She didn't feel that it was necessary, as the Dark Mark lit the path before her.

The black of her cloak, the hood raised to cover her blonde hair, helped her hide among the trees. She needed all the help she could get when trying to pass around the back of Hagrid's hut. The foolish dog he kept outside almost gave her away, but she continued on without raising too much alarm. She headed silently just within the cover of the tree line without crossing too deep into the dangerous forest.

Draco had instructed Hannah to wait at the gates of the grounds, out of sight and carefully dressed. Hannah didn't think she could give in to Draco's unthinkable request. She didn't think she could disgrace her mother by saying she had never known her, that the dead woman meant nothing to her. But there she stood, near the gate, hidden in the trees with green dress robes on, ready to give up the memory of her mother for a man.

But Draco was different. He was special. He loved her and Hannah loved him. Her mother was gone and it was sad, but she wasn't going to come back. Draco was here now and needed her. He needed her with him.

The hours passed slowly. Hannah saw Dumbledore and Harry Potter rush past on brooms and land on the Astronomy Tower. She saw Dumbledore fall and even though she gasped out loud, she felt proud knowing it was her Draco that had done it. More time passed before she saw the figures running down the grounds toward her. She moved to the gates and held them open as Snape and Draco came rushing through them. Draco grabbed her by the waist and, with one last look back at the illuminated windows of Hogwarts, they Disapperated into the night.


End file.
